U.S. Congress prepares bill to help Ukraine improve cybersecurity

The U.S. Congress Committee on Foreign Affairs has considered and recommended for approval a bill "Ukraine Cybersecurity Cooperation Act of 2017," which emphasizes strategic partnership between Washington and Kyiv, Ukraine's Embassy in the United States has reported.

The bill determines that U.S. policy is to help the Ukrainian government improve its own cybersecurity strategy. The bill proposes providing Ukraine with necessary support to increase most advanced security protection on government computers, particularly systems that defend Ukraine's critical infrastructure, to reduce reliance on Russian technology, and to help Ukraine build capacity, expand cyber security information sharing, and cooperate in international response efforts.

At the same time, the document reaffirms the U.S. commitment to the United States-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, and support for cooperation between NATO and Ukraine.

"The implementation of this legislative initiative will be an important contribution to Ukraine's struggle with the hybrid war of the Russian Federation, the continuation and component of which is the implementation of cyber-attacks against our state. The co-authors of the document are Democrat B. Boyle and Republican B. Fitzpatrick," the report says.